Family Reunion (Tristan and River OPEN)

[Elletnah]

A Highway, the highway were she last saw her mom, where they missed each other by chance. The cars were gone, for the most part, it was covered in leaved and had dead bodies scattered here and there. A few cars were still there but the traffic jam that had River stuck for a week was gone. She sighed, River hadn't been back this way in months, she had been avoiding it. 
The camp was near here, she highly doubted that it was still there. The camp was in utter chaos after the attack. But her mom was buried there, she wanted to be near her again. Even if she didn't quite remember which of the many graves was hers.
She silently went through the woods that lead to the clearing she had called home for two months, her bag had some of her tools inside, she hoped to trade if anyone was still there. 
River came out of the woods and found something she was not expecting, a wall, of cars stacked three high.
"How did they do this?" She wondered aloud.
"STEP AWAY FROM THE WALL!" Someone yelled from the top.
River did as she was told and her hands shot into the air, in one hand her bow held high, her eyes wide with shock.
"I mean no harm, I came to trade!" she shouted back.
"Keep your hands above your head and walk to your right, you'll find the gate and a guard there to assess your threat level." River nodded and did as she was told. What happened here? She thought to herself.
At the gate she found a familiar face, the eldest son of the man who had once been in charge. "Jacob!" She exclaimed excitedly.
"River? Oh my god!" He said smiling and pulling her into a hug. "We thought we would never see you again!" He said pulling away.
"Yeah, me too. I thought you guys would be long gone. Nice wall by the way."
"Thanks, took us ages to get all the cars up there. Here step away from the gate a supply group is heading out soon." Jacob said pulling River to the side.
"Can I come in? I want to say hi to everyone. Maybe trade if you are willing." River said, eyes bright with excitement. As a hummer zoomed through the gate behind Jacob.
"River Smith, never thought we would see you again." An older sandy blonde haired man said grinning from ear to ear approaching the two.
"Thought I would get some famous hospitatlity though I think your guy almost shot me." River said gesturing behind her still smiling.
"Sorry, strangers make us kind of jumpy around here. Come on in, you gotta dump your weapons and submit your bag for a search at the gate house before we can let you in. Just a safety precaution." The older man said.
Inside the gate, a pair of metal doors that took three men a door to force shut, was the gatehouse. The Gatehouse was a portable pavilion thing with a card table and a fairly large chest that had a large lock on it. It was manned by an unfamiliar young man. The older man escorted her to the table. "Josh this is River she is here to trade."
"Do you have any weapons to declare?" he asked boredly.
"Yeah, uh... A compound bow, about two dozen arrow, a hunting knife and a gun, ammo is in the bag." River said setting her bow on the table, next to it she put her knife and her gun. 
The young man took out a basket and set the gun in the bottom followed by the knife and then the bow. He unlocked the large chest and set the basket inside. He gestured to her bag and she reluctantly put it up there too. The quiver was disconnected from her pack and added to the basket in the chest. He opened the bag and gave the main pocket a quick search and then opened the smaller pockets, when he found nothing interesting he handed it back and pulled out a clip board. and wrote down the specifics of what she declared. "Sign here and when you leave just tell them what is yours. You can keep the ammo in your bag we know it is a commodity." River just left her initials and turned back to Jacob and his father.
"So! where to?" She asked slinging her bag onto her back.




{{I was thinking Tristan Smith would be in the Hummer, he would have just missed her. Heard about the commotion but when they heard it wasn't an immediate threat they left to look for supplies. Maybe have a couple posts where they aren't interacting? Like he goes to his old house to look for his family, when he finds no one continues on to look for supplies or something IDK that is totally up to you but I thought it would be cool to start the thread like this. I was also thinking the leader could be someone to play, that why I didn't say his name}}

[Tristan Smith]

Another day... Same one after the next. Tristam didn't know why he kept waking up! Maybe because he had a silent promise. He couldn't just die and leave his hopes about finding his family. He had been a couple of months in a camp, it was a good place, good people. They had lost many in a hord attack. But they were trying to survive, so why wouldn't he help? He was after all someone trained by their government to keep them all safe.

When he had told his name to the leader, he and othed guy recognized the name. They told him a woman and her daughter had been living there few months before, but they had died in the attack, or so they had seen the woman dead. Tristan knew that his family was stronger than that. He had tried to go home, but the men didn't let him. Not out of evil acts, but by telling him how much people needed his help. And because when he reached them he had a nasty wound from a crazy man who had confused him with a roamer.

That morning he woke up and got ready for his first time oitside in months. He got dressed and then went to the hummer, ready for the raid. They heard someone was approaching but they still had green light to go out, so they did. He didn't care who it was, he was looking an old family picture he always had with him. He would try and sneak away from them, search in his old house, his sister must be alive out there.

OOC: perfect idea!!! We can do it for some posts lol
Sorry the delay, i'm back lol

[Elletnah]

River took a good look around the camp, It was more like a compound though. The high walls that from the outside just looked like cars on the inside were lined with steel plates. Out in the east end of the camp it looked like construction was underway to build some form of shelter and there was what looked like a small town of tents pitched next to them.

A little further off several RV's were parked in neat rows and a large pavilion like tent covered several picnic tables. They had accomplished so much in the months she had been gone and it looked like they had grown.

"Wow! I love what you guys have done with the place!" River exclaimed.

Jacob and his father just smiled. "We found a half built mall and an abandoned RV camp. I was actually surprised they were still there, you would think people would want a house on wheels. Used some of the steel plating and support beams to reinforce the walls. Haven't had a breach since. Took down quite a few of the trees and were using them to build the log cabins you see over there." Jacobs father said gesturing to the half built houses.

"This is awesome you guys have done so great for yourself." River said smiling.
"Oh! Speaking of building I have some tools and stuff and know of a barely raided hard ware store a few towns over. Well thats if it hasn't been raided since I was last there. Though don't expect to find any junk food... I kinda raided the candy." She said guiltily.
"God look at this place, you look like you have doubled in size." 
"Always room for more." Jacobs father said giving River 'the look' the same look he gave her when she left, "I have to go over see the cabins, you gonna stick around for dinner?"
"Yeah, definitely I wanna see what you guys have done around here." River said smiling politely.
Jacob laughed as his father walked away, "You'll have to forgive him, he sees people as possible man power. Come on I'll give you the grand tour"


"Okay, so first off, how the hell did you get those cars up there?" River asked over dinner.
Jacob nodded and laughed. "Theres a bone yard a county over I used to work at, they have this crane thing, we keep it stashed in the woods over there. that they used to move the junkers. We got it shortly after you left."
"That is amazing, you guys have it made in here."

[Tristan Smith]

As soon as they got to a place to check, Tristan got off the vehicle and started checking some of the places around, finding some good boxes of food in cans. He grabbed them and got back to the humbie. It was in fact a good day for raiders. But he had to check if his sister was around. So he told one of the guys he would check if there was something good to take back with them in the farms nearby. He was a good runner and they knew he had been a soldier, a seal...so they just reminded him the time they would be leaving, so he didn't miss the ride.

As soon as the guys told him that, he ran up the road to where his place used to be. Where his farm, the house that he used to call home when he was a kids was. He needed to see it with his own eyes to know that his family was either roamers or not. The guys had told him that they had met his mother and sister and that they were sure his mother was dead, but what about his sister? River... She was tough, he had taught her many things before leaving. He had given her a bow... well she was tough, enough to survive!

He found in his way to some roamers, he used his long hunting knife and decapitated them, he didn't have time to waste with those things. Then he continued running, finally he got to his house. He noticed the door was closed, so as the windows on the first floor. He sighed and looked up, he saw the place where he used to climb up and down from his old room, so he climbed up. The house was old but it got his weight quite well. He opened the window to his old room and got into the house, being careful and cautious. "River?..." he asked in a quiet voice. he was ready in case there were only monsters in the house. But he hoped he would see his baby sister.

OOC: are her Notes to him still in the kitchen?? 

[Elletnah]

The sun was starting to set and the smallest of the residents were retiring to their tents when Jacob brought out the alcohol and suddenly it was a party. Candles, torches and a bon fire were lit and Jacob handed River a beer.
"God, I forgot what it was like to be around other people." she said taking a swig, "its so noisy, but a good noisy."
Earlier in the day she had traded the tools for food and ammo gotten a tour of the cabins, at least one was complete and they were raiding the houses near by for furniture.
Because they were right off the highway people found them easily and thought they were a safe place, as of that moment they had 58 people living there. At least 10 of them were children. It was a safe place and people understood that. They had carved a place for themselves here and were hunkering down for the long haul. 
Jacobs father had said something about them expanding the wall and planting crops. They had found a book store and books on farming and irrigation and one of the newer residents knew a little on the subject
She heard an unfamiliar looking man talking about solar panels and tapping into the water system. They had every intention of staying. And River was seriously considering coming back. They even offered her an RV, she would have a RV mate but it would be theirs.



{{Yeah, they should still be there. The fridge runs on a generator so it would be on with cold water and flat sodas)

[Tristan Smith]

Tristan wasn't sure about why he was doing that. He knew that the most prbable outcome had been that River was dead, just as his father and brother, just as his mother. But maybe his father and brother ran away before that, Maybe river and his mother got separated and that's why they were in that place with refugees. And maybe river was still alive. He walked down the hall of the upper floor. He looked inside the rooms, he didn't want to be outnumbered in case any monster or monsters were in there. But what he found wasn't... what he expected.

He found blood on a bed, someone had died there and executed. Then he found the proof that other one had died on the floor near a room. Well, maybe... Maybe his brother or his father killed the other one and then killed a roamer? He knew it wasn't real, but in that moment he needed to believe in the unreal. He walked downstairs and after checking around he noticed that the house had been used... as a house. But nothing was a mess, not in the strict definition of it.

He walked into the kitchen and noticed the engine of the refrigerator was still working. He walked closer and opened the door, he smiled looking at the leftovers of food in there and the sodas. He grabbed one and then closed the door, there he saw the notes. The handwriting was his sister's. "River..." He grabbed the letters and started with the dates, he put them in order and then read them. There he found out tht His father and brother had died, that his mother died too, but that River survived al of that.

He then looked around for a pen or pencil. The world went to hell and everyone forgot how important was to write! He found a pen in his old room, then wrote on other paper...

"River, Baby sis...
It's me Tristan. I'm alive and came back home, as I promised you I would the day of your graduation.
I'm sorry about everything, we'll have time to talk.
I'm in this coordenates: **-**-**, **-**-** (any numbers that match)
When you read this, don't come, I'll come here every day looking for you.
Love you sis.
Tris."

After writing the letter he pasted it on the fridge and took with him the other letters, proof that his sister was alive. Then he went upstairs and climbed down from his window to the ground. Then he ran back to the gathering point. There he got into the Humbie and they drove back to the shelter. He smiled all the time knowing River was alive.

After some time they got to the shelter by sunset. People was already having dinner. He was hungry, but not that much. He would maybe grab a piece of dry meat and then heat the hay. He walked to where people were having dinner. He was reading one of the letters once more.

OOC: hope it is ok XD Maybe she sees him in the dinner? XD

[Elletnah]

River was laughing at a joke when the guard at the gate sounded that the supply party was back. "Yay!" the crowd cheered.
"So what have you been up to?" Jacob asked.
"Well I hung around my home town for a while didn't want to deal with the house but I came back and cleaned it up. Hoping my brother would come back I boarded up the windows met some french chick who is more gone then there and just did some hunting." River said finishing off her beer. Some one offered her another one and she declined.
"Brother...." Jacob said thoughtfully.
"Yes, I have a brother." she said laughing.
"Oh my god! There is a guy, says hes former military looking for his sister."
"Where is he?" River demanded sitting up, hoping that maybe, just maybe, it was him.
"Last I knew he went out on that supply run."
"Was his name Tristan?" 
"I don't know I'm not in charge of new recruits."
River stood up and looked around when she saw new people joining the other residents. And spotted a familiar face covered in a scruffy beard.
"Tristan." she whispered.
"TRISTAN!" She exclaimed.

((woho!!!!))

[Tristan Smith]

Tristan was reading the letter one more time, when suddenly he heard his name. But he wasn't in the mood of chatting and spending time with the people that he had met weeks ago, he wanted to eat and go to bed so he could go back to his house and look for his sister. He kept walking and one of the guys in that raid called him.
"Tristan, that pretty lady is calling out your name."
part teassing him, Tristan looked at the guy and chuckled. then he shook his head and lifted his sight to the place where the voice came from and there she was...

"River?... My God... RIVER!!"
He yelled and then ran to the place where the woman was, for everyone was a woman, for him his baby sister. He wrapped his arms around her slender body and brought her tight to his. "River... baby sis! are you ok? what happened? I got the letters..." he half smiled fearing it was a dream.

[Elletnah]

River wrapped her arms around Tristans neck and held on for dear life. 
"You grew a beard." she mumbled into his shirt that smelled like outside, and dirt.
She started to cry he was here, alive. Had come back for her. It seemed like it had been years since she had seen him. He had been so busy with work and she with school she really hadn't seen him in so long. He looked like he had seen hell, but he had come back.
"You were at the house." She stated smiling into his shoulder.
"I'm alright, surviving." River said pulling away.
"It's a long story, I'm sure you have one of your own." River said smiling through the tears.

[Tristan Smith]

Tristan didn't let his sister go like for some minutes, he needed to be sure that it was real and that the moment he let her go, he wouldn't wake up to see that he hadn't found her yet. He chuckled when she mentioned his beard and nodded. "yeah... I didn't have the time or desire to shave it... is it bad thing?" He asked and then breathed in her scent, even when it was combined with other things, Her scent was the same, his baby sister. He would always know it, because it was the scent the farm of their parents had.

After those minutes he pulled back and smiled at River, his eyes filled with tears. He wiped hers with his thumbs and smiled at her. "yes, I went home. I had to look for you." He sighed, when he said 'you' he talked about the whole family, but then he remembered the letters, how she had to kill or put down their father, their brother and even their mother. that must had been a horrible experience. even more than killing your wing man and your girlfriend on the same circumstances... almost.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you all, River. I'm really sorry." he breathed in deeply and smiled apologetically. Then he nodded. "yeah, but I want to know you story first." He said and smiled a bit more. in that moment he really was hungry, he was happy and had some hopes in the future. "come, I need to eat, have you eaten?"

OOC: lol yay!!! reunion!!

[Elletnah]

They sat down at one of the picnic tables and someone quietly set down a bowl of stew and a beer in front of Tristan before melting into the crowd. Jacob and the other gave them space. River smiled at the beard comment.
"Sorry, you just look like dad. Its not a bad thing." 
River looked down at her hands in her lap. "Yeah, the house." She spent most of her days trying not to think about it, about their parents and brother. It was hard not to when she was by herself. It was easier around other, could take her mind off of it.
"Its not your fault. No one knew this was going to happen. I was at school when it got bad. We weren't officially evacuated but I figured it was time to get out when a classmate attacked and ate our professor. When I finally made it back to the house Mom was already gone and technically dad and and Tag were dead. I packed up and left, after taking care of them." River trailed off thinking.
"Mom had left me a note, said she was going to Dallas, said their was a refugee camp there. That highway on the other side of those woods we were stuck there in a traffic jam for a week before we were ambushed. Thats where I met Jacob and his father, a large horde came in from we think Dallas and we all fled the cars. They stayed here and made a camp I kept going to Dallas. Found the refugee camp overrun, figured mom was dead or worse so I came back. Jacobs dad said they were going to try to set up a camp so I came back. I found mom." River said smiling.
"We were okay for a while I was out on a supply run, a horde over ran the camp, it was before the walls." River said gesturing, "Mom got bit, protecting some kids. I made it back in time to say good bye and put her down. Thats when I went back to the house. Hoping you would come back." She smiled at Tristan.
"And you did. I knew that if there was a chance that we were still alive you would come looking for us." Taking a deep breath she continued, "I met this french girl at a Lowes looking for things to board the house up with a few weeks ago, You can survive in that house for a long time if you had enough food and fuel to run the genny. I fortified it against intruders of the living and dead kind. And hunkered down for the long run. Hoped I could find supplies left over from when these guys cleared out but instead I found a wall!"
"What about you? I see you got hurt." She gestured to the healing wound.

(Sorry I kinda jumped around :/)

[Tristan Smith]

Tristan sat with his sister at a table and then someone put a plate of food in front of him. He smiled at the person and nodded. He used to be so talkative, now she barely spoke to strangers. He smelled the food. "better than in the barracks..." he tried to joke and smiled at River. Then she commented about the way he looked and it just made him chuckle. "so I look like Da'... well that's good, Imagine if I looked like Uncle Bruce!" then he started eating, but then he stopped eating when she got to the part where she had to kill their father and brother.

He knew she was right, he wasn't the one to blame there, he didn't know about those monsters attacking, still he felt it was his responsability to take care of them and for a moment he cursed in his mind his desision to join the air force, he should had been with his family, not far away. He barely touched the food as she told him what had happened to her. Then she got to the part where their mother was bitten. "Typical of mom..." he smiled saddly. then looked at River again.

"Well... I'm glad you had survived Sis, and of course I got back, I would had never stopped looking for you guys." He smiled at her and then looked at his clavicle and nodded. "yeah... Well you remember I was in alaska, then we got orders and had to go to California, there is where the roamers attacked us. Refugees were there, someone should had been infected... People died and came back to bite and kill more. My wingman was covered by them so he begged me to kill him, which I did." He sighed.

He looked at her and then it was visible that the next part was difficult for him. "Remember I wrote you about a girl? Prue?" he asked, he had written to River telling her about Prue, another officer, they were in love and he would take her home to be introduced to their parents, next Christmas. "Well, she got bit too. She begged me to not let her turn, so I spent hours with her till she died, then I shot her too." He breathed deeply. "I grabbed a helicopter and the pilot stabbed me" pointed at the clavicle.

"I had to kill him too... I needed to come back. Then I met a doctor he cured me. And after some weeks I finally found these guys. But I needed to check the house." Smiles at her and held her hand in his. "I won't leave again River. We're gonna beat this, together."

OOC: no problem at all!! good reminder of her history!! XD

[Elletnah]

"I'm sorry about Prue. Can't have anything nice nowadays. Mom was like a teacher here. The attack happened at night when she heard the first gun shots she tried to get them somewhere safe and got bit in the process. From what mom told me Dad and Tag got bit the night before, the cell towers and phone lines were down. It should have been a give away that something was wrong but it hadn't effected us yet you know." River watched as a few of the teenagers joked and roasted marshmellows over the bonfire.
"Dude you should have seen the campus when it got bad. Remember that scene in Zombieland, really the opening credits where like the dead were chasing people? It was like that. One day it was just a virus going around and we were reminded to get a flu shot, the next day I am fleeing the campus with a bunch of dead people on my heels. I'm lucky we didn't get ambushed on the highway sooner. It was horrible. I was so happy to have found her, I was lucky you know, we're lucky. You can only imagine how many people are out there hoping to find a family member. I found mom, and we had a couple months together before she died.
I think the only reason you even found me is because I was stupid. I stayed when I should have moved on, found a more secure spot. But I was sentimental. I should have stayed here." River looked over to where Jacob and his father sat talking, "It's safer here."
"Sorry, don't mean to be a downer, it is good to see you. More that good it is fantastic to see you again, I thought you were gone for good. Dead or worse. I really am sorry about Prue and your friend." River said sincerely.

[Tristan Smith]

Tristan looked at his sister as she said how sorry she was about Pru, he sighed and nodded. It hadn't been her fault, she didn't have to say she was sorry, but it was the civilized way to act, right? to be sorry about things you couldn't control and that happened to people you care about. "Don't worry... she's... fine now. She was airforce, but she wouldn't have been able to survive in this world, she was too... nice, to naive... too warm." maye he was just idolatricing her, but it was how he remembered her.

Then River talked about how lucky they were, how foolish she had been and how safe they were in that place. She sighed and finished his food, all what she said was what Prue would have said, about people, about a place where to live, where to feel safe. But he knew better, he had seen outside before getting there and he knew it was reckless to think it was safe. "There is real safe place now Sis. And it is reckless to think in such way. Look around, too many peaople, way too noisy and bright. Roamers will smell, listen or see this place, a herd will come in this direction and no matter how guns they have or how tall their car walls will be, a herd will get inside..."

he said and then he chuckled. "Now who's the downer?" he sighed. "what I mean is that... either this place is good or back home is ok, as long as we never forget to be prepared to face them at any moment. you're right, we're lucky... and I don't know what would I do if I lose you sis." He said and finished his water, then laughed. "that low you thought of me? that I wouldn't survive some roamers?" he winked at her. "You want to stay here... right?"

[Elletnah]

"I don't know, I have been on my own for a while now. Jakes dad over theres favorite pass time is to convince me to stay. After mom died he said it was stupid to leave. I left anyway." River shrugged.
"Its not just the cars, they've fortified this wall, they can stack them higher, yeah roamers will here but if they have a plan in place, which they might not, about keeping quiet when a herd is spotted. I mean its safe here, atleast here you can sleep soundly. I truly don't know if I would stay here, its nice having community and friends." She said thoughtfully.
"What about you, do you want to stay. You're military, you can teach them. And we're hunters you could teach to shoot and hunt. I think they're be safe here if they don't let the safety of the wall lull them into thinking they are always safe." She looked over to the wall not far off.
"Could add another layer of cars, like an outer border instead of expanding, atleast until more cars are found. Once most of the cabins are done they can move tent city closer to the RVs and plant crops over there. Maybe just build a second, smaller walled in area just for crops." River said mostly to herself, thinking.
She always seemed to be thinking along those lines, how to fortify, stay safe. It came like second nature to her now.